Did you know that
Mayor Pro-Tem Bryan Miiller has been asked to sanction Mayor Virdell?
The vitriol in Llano politics is the worst in memory,
as demonstrated by the citizen comments at council meetings, numerous
letters to the editor, and chatter on the net. Even the editor of the
Llano News, Heather Wagner, wrote an editorial
condemning the “insults” and wisely asked, “When will the sparring end
and the work begin?”
Some misconstrue policy disagreement with vitriol but
there is still plenty of real hate language statements that are just
plain nasty and nothing but personal attacks designed to intimidate.
Mayor
Virdell's Hitler rant letter to the editor in both newspapers was
the pinnacle of this vitriol. It was followed by his calling a citizen a
liar in a council meeting. The citizen was presenting
factual,
written, correct statements but, regardless, the mayor losing his
temper in a meeting and verbally attacking a concerned citizen is
unacceptable and an embarrassment to the mayor, the city, and the
council. The mayor has also called a councilman "black-hearted," yet
accuses others of being hateful. Hate has nothing to do with
disagreement and this tactic has no place in Llano.
It is a fact that Mayor Virdell has violated several
tenets of the
City of Llano Code of Conduct for Elected Officials. If you are in
doubt, see the Fact vs. Fiction analysis
for details on the violations..
Maybe, if the mayor is sanctioned for his proven bad
behavior that actually violates city rules, it will set a new tone of
civility in Llano.
TTo that end, I have asked Mayor Pro-Tem Bryan Miiller
to put the discussion of sanctions against Mayor Virdell for conduct
violations on next Monday's Council agenda. I believe this can be
discussed in closed session so as not to embarrass Mayor Virdell any
further, but it must be made clear to the citizens that council members
will not tolerate this kind of bad conduct and vitriol emanating from
the highest position in city government.
It is now up to Mayor Pro-Tem Bryan Miiler to enforce
the Code of Conduct and begin the restoration of civility to Llano
government. ,
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